An excellent hard bop trumpeter, Cecil Bridgewater has been the longtime trumpeter with the Max Roach Quartet. After studying music at the University of Illinois, he teamed up with tenorman Ron Bridgewater in the Bridgewater Brothers Band (1969). He was married to singer Dee Dee Garrett (aka Dee Dee Bridgewater) for part of the 1970s. In 1970, the trumpeter was with Horace Silver, and then he worked with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis orchestra (1970-1976). Cecil Bridgewater started playing with Max Roach in the early ’70s, and was a key part of his groups ever since. He recorded his long overdue debut as a leader on a Bluemoon disc in 1993. ~ Scott Yanow